NickelSearch brings Allkem on board to follow up lithium potential at Carlingup

Last April NickelSearch (ASX: NIS) reported that soil sampling at its flagship nickel project in Western Australia had detected lithium, opening up the possibility of a lithium-caesium-tantalum resource being found.

Now the company is joining forces with mining neighbour Allkem (ASX: AKE) to undertake a technical collaboration to push forward the lithium prospects at Carlingup.

Allkem owns the Mt Cattlin lithium mine which in fiscal 2023 produced 131,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate.

Carlingup is located 10km from the town of Ravensthorpe, while Mount Cattlin is just 2km north of the town.

Allkem to assess all lithium data

The agreement between the two companies is not yet at the level of a formal joint venture.

Nor is there any guarantee that the technical collaboration will lead to such a formal agreement, says NickelSearch.

Initially, Allkem is to review all the lithium-related data for Carlingup and advise on target generation and prioritisation.

Carlingup has a current resource of 155,000 tonnes of contained nickel.

Its ground tenure embraces a 10km-plus nickel strike length and previous mining there returned nickel grades averaging 3.45%.

‘Vast technical expertise’

NickelSearch managing director Nicole Duncan said that, given the similar geology at Carlingup and Mount Cattlin, the companies have agreed to work together.

“The exploration team at Mount Cattlin is sharing its vast technical expertise on greenfield lithium exploration and NickelSearch is sharing data from the work completed to date.”

Success will set up both companies to negotiate further steps in the relationship, she added.

Rock chip sampling under way

NickelSearch is in the process of rock chip sampling 22 areas of lithium interest that have been identified by a geochemical review.

Analysis of further areas of interest, using historical geological studies and geological surveys, is now in progress.

NickelSearch will share all its information on lithium work so far completed, with Allkem using that to advise on targeting and prioritising further rock chip sampling.

Allkem has recently announced a mine life extension of between four and five years at Mount Cattlin through more open pit mining as well as beginning work on studying prospects for underground mining.